Son of Saul

Film review

The subject matter is obviously very grim and at times it is difficult to watch, especially due to the way it is filmed. However, I thought the film was nicely balanced – it was graphic without being gratuitous.

An aspect ratio of 1:1.37 is used throughout. I suppose this is to reinforce that the film is set in the 40s. I can’t remember the last thing I watched like this, but I think it has been a number of years. I felt that it also added a claustrophobic feel to the film – maybe this was intentional to make you feel trapped like the prisoners.

You see the main character Saul carrying out his duties as a Sonderkommando, including gathering up the belongings of all the people who are being gassed in the next room and disposal of their bodies. He appears emotionless and numb to it all, but you get a sense that this is a man who has experienced great trauma during the short period of time spent at the camp.

There is a lot of really interesting camerawork, such as the scenes where you see over Saul’s shoulder, but the background is out of focus. This is possibly symbolising how he has had to become numb to cope with the unimaginable horrors that he experiences daily. These shots, coupled with the narrow aspect ratio really keep you focussed on the protagonist and help you to better empathise with his dire situation.

One thing that really struck me about this film was how few shots there were. Apparently there were only 85 in the whole film. I’m a big fan of long takes/minimal shots in films. It really makes what you are watching feel more realistic and draws you in. The best example of this I’ve seen is the film Children of Men. It has some absolutely insane action sequences filmed with a single camera in one take. Completely the opposite of films such as those from Michael Bay, where a car explodes and you see it from 12 different cameras in 8 seconds.

The whole film feels very real and is an important reminder that this actually happened. Unless you believe it didn’t, like Mr Smith the maths teacher from St Peter’s who was uncovered as a Nazi apologist after the press found out he was running as a BNP candidate for the European parliament.

He was better known by many of the students as “default wrestler” due to his uncanny resemblance to the starting point when going on to “create a wrestler” on the old WWE games (or WWF as they were called at the time before those arrogant pandas got their way).

He had his own personal website which clarified his Holocaust denial and included links to Mein Kampf and eugenics websites. Unfortunately for him, this website was taken down after Yahoo claimed the domain name for being too similar to their own. He probably blamed this on the Jews.

Anyway, I’ve drifted off topic somewhat… the film is very well made and tackles a difficult subject very well. Even though the pace is slow and there isn’t really that much dialogue, I thought the film was gripping and memorable.

4 Stars of David out of 5